The impact of artificial intelligence on industry and even daily life has become inescapable. Over the last few years, a top-priority question for company leaders has been, “How can we leverage AI to enhance our operations?” And now, just as many businesses have begun to pin down their answer(s), a new question has arisen: “Who can we find to help us realize our AI ambitions?”
The demand for AI expertise has surged across industries. According to a joint report by Microsoft and LinkedIn, hiring of AI talent surged 323% between 2016 and 2024, and 55% of leaders worry they won’t find enough talent to fill open roles in 2025. To compete for top AI talent, organizations must understand the features that attract them. Here, members of Forbes Technology Council detail some of the factors, initiatives and cultural conditions that count most in the eyes of AI professionals.
1. A Mission-Driven Culture
A mission-driven culture with a focus on solving meaningful problems attracts top AI talent. Professionals are drawn to companies whose goals align with their values, such as advancing healthcare, sustainability or education. A compelling mission provides a sense of purpose and motivates talent to contribute their best work. – Abhishek Shivanna, Nubank
2. Projects That Push AI Boundaries
Companies attract top AI talent by offering cutting-edge projects that push AI boundaries. An environment encouraging innovation, experimentation with new technologies and open-source contributions appeals to AI professionals’ intellectual curiosity and ambition. This approach satisfies their desire for continuous learning and industry recognition. – Anurag Agrawal, Google LLC
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3. A Sense Of Ownership And Purpose
It all comes down to creating an environment where team members feel a sense of ownership and purpose. We focus on giving our team the autonomy to explore creative solutions while tying their work to our larger mission of helping companies build and improve AI. Providing access to cutting-edge tools and resources is also key. – Nikhil Pareek, Future AGI
4. A Compelling Company Culture Paired With Competitive Compensation
Organizations can attract top AI talent by focusing on creating a compelling and sincere company culture and strong brand image while offering competitive compensation and benefits. Further, it’s important to highlight challenging and impactful projects while providing flexible and remote work options. Help them establish a network that offers meaningful value beyond just employment opportunities. – Dr. Vivian Lyon, Plaza Dynamics
5. The Chance To Solve Complex Problems
AI professionals thrive in environments where they can solve complex problems using cutting-edge tools and technologies. Access to unique or proprietary datasets enables them to work on groundbreaking solutions that aren’t possible elsewhere. – Gowtham Chilakapati, Humana
6. Access To Cutting-Edge Resources
A company that fosters innovation through access to cutting-edge tools, diverse datasets and collaborative opportunities attracts top AI talent. Such an environment empowers professionals to tackle impactful challenges, advance their skills and contribute to meaningful projects, aligning their growth with the company’s success. – Abhishek Sinha, Accenture
7. Addressing Real-World Challenges
Top AI talent seeks opportunities to innovate in large-scale, high-performance systems addressing real-world challenges across industries ranging from e-commerce and finance to healthcare. Companies that emphasize ethical AI, cross-functional collaboration, robust resources and professional growth inspire creativity, enhance engagement and ensure sustainability in today’s rapidly evolving market. – Dhruv Seth, Walmart Global Tech
8. True Belief In The Power Of AI
Top AI talent will be drawn to a company that truly believes in using AI to power the next technology revolution, as opposed to one that is just embracing AI to be competitive or using it only for specific initiatives. The company that embraces AI for serving both its internal and external customers will come out on top. – Sidd Shah, healow
9. Unique Datasets And An Ethical Focus
The best AI professionals crave both massive, unique datasets and an ethical AI focus. Access to quality data fuels innovation and helps them push boundaries, while a focus on ethics ensures responsible AI development. This combination attracts those who want to do groundbreaking work with a positive impact. – Gokul Subramanian, EY
10. A Culture Of Innovation And Research Autonomy
One factor that makes a company particularly attractive to top AI talent is a commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and research autonomy. AI professionals are often driven by opportunities to tackle complex, impactful problems and explore cutting-edge technologies. – Nirupam Samanta, Visa Inc.
11. Using AI To Improve A Variety Of User Experiences
Depending on an individual AI professional’s areas of expertise and interest, there could be several things that would attract them to a particular company. However, among common attractive factors is when a company is using AI to build highly adaptive user experiences, whether to increase developer productivity, add automation or increase customer satisfaction. – Ayesha Mahmood, Zscaler
12. Purpose-Driven Work
A company’s commitment to solving meaningful, high-impact problems like climate change or improving healthcare can be highly attractive to top AI talent. AI professionals often seek opportunities where their work has a positive social impact. Companies that align innovation with ethical considerations and purpose-driven goals create an environment that appeals to mission-driven experts. – Kishore Pothuri, Vita Global Sciences
13. Continuous Learning And Development
Top AI talent looks for opportunities for continuous learning and development. This includes access to advanced tools, technologies and training, as well as the chance to work on innovative and challenging projects. AI professionals thrive in an environment where they can enhance their skills and apply them to cutting-edge applications—it keeps them engaged and at the forefront of the rapidly evolving AI field. – Paresh Sagar, Excellent Webworld
14. A Focus On Innovation Rather Than Implementation
If the core of your business creates challenges that require AI professionals to develop and push state-of-the-art solutions, as opposed to managing implementations that can be done anywhere, you’ll attract top talent. Such a culture fosters creativity and allows talent to innovate, as opposed to focusing on AI implementation only. In our case, it’s the chance to work on problems including AI proactivity, extensive AI memories, AI agency and AI relationship management. – Dor Skuler, Intuition Robotics
15. A Demonstrated Commitment To AI
Top AI talent is drawn to companies that are deeply invested in AI and that demonstrate a clear commitment through extensive implementation and funding. They prefer environments where AI is already central to operations and innovation, rather than being asked to build something from scratch. In other words, they want to work for a company that is already in an AI future. – Joseph Ours, Centric Consulting
16. Opportunities For Growth And Impact
With a worldwide hunger for AI talent, companies have to offer a strong feeling of growth and impact. Top AI scientists and engineers tend not to look for monetary security—they are already in a high-paying profession—but stock plans and rewarding their impact can be differentiators. – Filip Dvorak, Filuta AI
17. Other Top AI Talent
The truth is that top AI talent attracts top AI talent. The folks you are looking for want to work collaboratively with other highly intelligent, high-performing, intellectually curious engineers who also understand AI, each able to go deeply into specific sub-areas. Most top AI engineers don’t want to be “the AI person” in a team of people who aren’t deeply familiar with the discipline. – Sam Glassenberg, Level Ex
18. An Ongoing High Level Of Engagement
The key to being attractive to top talent is visibility and an ongoing high level of engagement. This is especially the case for top AI talent, as they are in high demand. The first point of call in attracting talent is for an organization to gain visibility in the right ecosystem. The other key is to keep AI team members highly engaged by understanding their interests and providing suitable, relevant work. – Henry Patishman, Regula
19. Support For Research And Global Collaboration
A company that promotes open innovation and supports AI professionals in publishing research and collaborating globally attracts top talent. It fosters creativity, builds credibility and positions the company as a leader, appealing to those who are passionate about advancing AI. – Vaibhav Gujral, Charles Schwab
20. A Strong Open-Source Commitment
A strong open-source commitment attracts top AI talent because it allows researchers and engineers to contribute to the broader AI community while working on proprietary projects. This balance lets them build public reputations, share knowledge and stay connected to cutting-edge developments, making a company more appealing than those with closed systems. – Brij Kishore Pandey, ADP
